


Salvation

by PrePsychPineappleLover



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller Friendship, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Protective Alec Hardy, Swearing, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-22 11:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30037971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrePsychPineappleLover/pseuds/PrePsychPineappleLover
Summary: A chance encounter leaves Alec Hardy impressed:She's new in town, bold, a bit foul-mouthed and clever. Daisy believes he has finally found his perfect match. But, just like Alec, the woman he met has a dark past...And it is coming back to haunt her.Takes place after the series ended, but I still tried to keep it spoiler-free.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my very first Broadchurch story so I'm a bit nervous, haha. :) I'm also not a native English speaker, but I've tried my best to make the characters sound true to themselves.  
> For the OC that I introduce here I had a specific British actress in mind, but I'd like to wait a bit before I reveal who I mean. Maybe you can guess. ;)
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this story and please let me know what you think in the comments below! Any note will be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Rated T mostly for swearing! ;)

“Dad, why do you keep avoiding this?”

“I’m not avoiding anything, Daisy. I just think it’s unnecessary.” Alec Hardy held stubbornly.

F ather and daughter were out for a rare walk around the neighbourhood. The school was closed for a teacher’s conference and an even rarer lull in Alec’s paperwork had left them both bored out of their minds at home. It was Alec’s idea to  go out and aimlessly walk around town,  just talking . He knew the time he had left to bond with his  sixteen -year-old daughter before she went off t o  the university would go by in the blink of an eye and he had missed so much of her life already.

He had promised to be there for her if she decided to stay with him and Alec intended to make the best out of their  spare time. This topic, however, wasn’t one that Alec was comfortable with.

“Really?” Daisy said, lifting one of her eyebrows in challenge. “Because Ellie’s been telling me that lately you’re even more of a knob than usual.”

Alec inhaled and turned to her, mid-walk, with a warning glare.

“Her words, not mine.” Daisy immediately defended herself, but then not-so-secretly rolled her eyes with the exasperation of any annoyed teenager. “Anyway, the last match I found for you, Sarah, she’s even a Detective with Dorchester Police. She’d have been good for you. You’d have much in common.”

“Right. Because that worked so well with your mum.” Alec grumbled under his breath. But Daisy had heard and now in turn sent him the trademark Hardy glare. _Annoying that she can do that, too,_ thought Alec.

“At least you did manage to stay together for… what? Twelve years or so?”

“There’s a difference between staying together and actually… _being_ together.” Alec admitted rather quietly. Unfortunately, Daisy was aware that, during her childhood, he was rather married to his work than to his wife. And Tess really wasn’t so different. They were doomed to fail from the beginning – sooner than only after twelve years if it wouldn’t have been for Daisy – but they both had refused to see it. Well, at least he had.

“I just think... you need someone to make you happier again, Dad.” Daisy said softly after they’d walked in silence for a while.

He gently nudged her with his elbow, hands remaining deeply buried in the pockets of his  Mac . “I have you.” Alec said.

The smile Daisy gave him was too old for her face and she wasn’t meeting his eyes. “It’s not the same. You know that.” she said, stroking beautiful wild strands of  d ark- blonde hair out of her face. The wind was picking up as the tide rolled in a few yards away on the beach. But it was still  rather  warm for  this time of the year . “You need someone you can share things with. Someone you can trust.”  she added.

“That’s what I have Miller for.” Alec immediately shot back.

Trust was another sore topic for him.

His trust had been broken so many times by so many people. By Tess, obviously. By Claire Ripley, Lee Ashworth and Ricky Gillespie. Essentially. But there were others if one would go further back in his life.

Alec trusted no one.  All people he encountered were met with suspicion and cynicism. It’s what made him such a good  policeman , but not really the most pleasant chap to be around. Apart from Daisy, Miller was the only one he trusted. And it had taken him a bloody long time and going through hell and back with her during and after the Latimer case to achieve that.  In turn, Ellie Miller was probably the only person in all of Broadchurch who could stand him.

And he was absolutely fine with that. His daughter, on the other hand, seemed to believe that this was not enough.

“Fine.” she huffed now, sensing that her father wouldn’t allow her to persuade him. “Stay alone and grumpy forever.”

“Thank you.” said Alec, hints of a presumptuous little smile on his face. “Now, can we please change the topic?”

They couldn’t, apparently. Because in that moment there was a ruckus on the other side of the street as a fairly small, blonde woman stormed out of one of the  brick wall houses and after an indifferent looking repairman. What she lacked in height she compensated with her loud voice and colourful language.

“Oi! Do you hear me you enormous prick!? I won’t pay shit for this!”

The repairman didn’t even turn around as he put his tools back into his car and then walked around to the driver’s side to get in.

“No! Hell, no, you bloody will stay and fix this bloody mess! Do you hear me? Oi!”

The repairman started  the engine and drove off, not bothering that the woman repeatedly called out after him.

“Argh!” she growled, clenching her fists and stomping her foot on the ground. “Arsehole!” she yelled at last, standing there on her own in the middle of the street, glaring daggers after the disappearing car.

Alec and Daisy looked at each other. They were the only other people on the street, although knowing how fast gossip travelled in this small town, Alec was sure the neighbours were just hiding behind their curtains. “ Blimey , talking about properly  grumpy …” he mumbled to his daughter,  admittedly impressed by the woman’s wrath.

A s they walked closer, Alec could clearly see the distress on the woman’s face. She seemed close to tears, but was obviously more angry than anything else. Because  one initially bec o me s a policeman for a  noble reason, Alec couldn’t help but to approach the woman in need. “ A h, excuse me, Miss? Is there a problem? Do you need help?”

The woman’s head turned abruptly around, only noticing now that she had spectators. “Oh,  that…  _bloody_ shitface ,”  she clearly wrestled with keeping even worse abusive language at bay. “He was supposed to fix the plumbing in my kitchen and all he did was mak ing even more of a mess, insisting that he can’t do anything until I get new pipes and then leave me with a ridiculously high bill for nothing!”

While she was ranting, Alec had managed to steer her away from the street and onto the pavement. There was barely any traffic in residential  areas like this, but his training insisted on keeping civilians as safe as possible.

“I know that he probably is more of an expert than me, but my water pipes were fine before he tampered around with them for an hour. That much I know!” The woman continued. “Stupid twat.” she muttered finally and Alec raised his eyebrows at her choice of words.

As if she  had  noticed his look, the woman finally took her glowering glance away from the direction where the car  had  disappeared and quickly blinked at Alec and his companion. “Oh, god, sorry. I didn’t mean to…”  her eyes briefly jumped to Daisy in embarrassment.

“It’s fine.” said Alec. “She’s used to worse from me.” Daisy grinned and nodded at that.

“Still, it’s embarrassing. I don’t normally fly off the handle like that.” she said, calming down enough eventually to really look at Alec. 

She was indeed quite small, not even reaching his shoulder; Daisy was a wee bit taller than her, Alec noticed. The woman’s hair was blonde like his daughter’s, although much lighter, and framing her round face in waves. Her exceptionally large eyes were probably of a hazel colour, but now had a fiery spark of green in them from excitement.

A lec resolutely pushed his observations  to the far back of his mind and concentrated on the problem at hand. “This plumber… what’s the name of his business?”

“Ah… Atwater Plumbing, or something equally misleading like that.” she said.

“Yah, that one screwed over quite a few people over the last year. You should have gone with Latimer Plumbing, the owner is back in town again.”

“Well, how should I know that?” The woman roared again. “I only moved here recently from London, just picked the first plumber in the phone book.”

“London, huh…” Alec nodded curtly, not impressed by her outburst at all. “If you want I could call them for you.” he then went on seamlessly, which seemed to puzzle her a bit. “Latimer Plumbing,” he explained. “They’ll fix whatever had gone wrong.”

“Oh, that won’t be--” she started, but suddenly Daisy interrupted them both.

“Actually, Dad, why don’t you go look if you can help and I will call Mr. Latimer.”

“What?” Alec turned towards his daughter, frowning deeply. “Me? Why would I do that?”

“Just…” Daisy widened her eyes at him pointedly. “You could _help_.”

“I’m not a bloody plumber. I don’t know what I’m doing.” he shot back.

“You’re always trying to do everything by yourself at home, too.” Daisy argued.

Alec had now fully turned away from the woman so she wouldn’t be able to tell by the horrified look on his face how uncomfortable he was with Daisy’s ludicrous idea. “That’s because I don’t like having strange people in my home. I’m sure she feels the same.” He vaguely gestured behind him.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “ Dad, don’t be like that. I’m sure it’s fine and I’ll be right outside anyway.”

“Where did you even get Mark’s number?” Alec tried to distract.

“Internet.” Daisy deadpanned and when her father didn’t let off with the stern glance she sighed, “I could also call Chloe and have her tell her dad, if that makes you more comfortable.”

“It would.” said Alec, still glaring at her in hopes this would make her back off. But Daisy knew him too well to be impressed by his angry scowls and just nodded towards the woman’s house.

“Well, go on then. I’ll be fine.” she said, conspicuously pulling her phone out and tapping in the numbers.

Alec  growled audibly before he turned back around . There was no arguing with his daughter  once she set her mind on something . Interestingly enough, the woman didn’t seem fazed by his surely murderous glare, either. She was grinning  now ,  rather amused by  this little spat,  which pissed him off even more.  He  continued to stare at her, trying to unnerve her  like it had unnerved so many other people before.

“I don’t mind you taking a look until that other plumber gets here. It can’t get much worse anyway.” She just said with a disarming smile that annoyingly reminded him of Miller’s ridiculous toothy grin.

A lec felt the wind pulling at his light brown hair, tumbling it around while he just stood there, scratching his scruffy beard. He must look like such an idiot, getting told off by his teenage daughter like that. He wasn’t sure if he could make up for that with his questionable plumbing skills, but  he eventually did mutter something unintelligible and motioned for the short, blonde woman to lead the way.

S ilently brooding over an appropriate punishment for Daisy when they get home, Alec almost didn’t hear the question the woman was asking  then .

“Does she do that often?”

“Hm, what?”

“She’s your daughter, right?” she asked to clarify.

“Yes… Daisy.” Alec said, his face for once darkening in irritation at her name.

The woman smiled, nonetheless, leading him through a narrow hallway in her home. “I asked if she does that often… setting you up like this.”

Alec uncomfortably rubbed over his  stubbly cheek again. “Oh, shit… sorry about that.  Daisy …  she tends to meddle with things that are none of her business. I’ve repeatedly told her not to  but she never listens.”

“It’s fine.” the woman unconcernedly waved a hand. “I don’t mind.”

Alec furrowed his brows. His step getting a little bit slower. “You don’t?”

The woman turned around, big eyes glinting somewhat mischievously. “No.” she said, shaking her head, her hands folded on her back.

He stared back at her, not sure what to make of her statement, but  feeling how all sensible words suddenly seemed to die in his throat as he obviously struggled for an appropriate reply. The woman noticed.

“Well…” she said, moving on thankfully and opening her arms to gesture around. “This is it.”

Only now Alec noticed that he was standing in the doorway to her kitchen… or rather what was supposed to be her kitchen. It was a mess. The floor was wet and a handful of towels were soaking in various puddles on the ground.  Tubes and pipes were disassembled in pieces and scattered on every available surface and from the open floor cupboard beneath the sink wafted an old, mouldy-wet stench. “ Right .” said Alec  dryly . “You weren’t lying. This  really  can’t get any worse.”

H e scrunched up his nose as he moved closer, carefully avoiding the puddles, to take a closer look at the sink. The woman followed him, pointing out what  th at bungler was trying to do  earlier .

Alec glared at the drain from all sides, crouching down and leaning over the counter, as if his stern look could miraculously persuade it to fix itself. The truth was that while he did try to  repair things on his own at home so he wouldn’t have to ask other people for help, he had only rudimentary knowledge of the matter. He would tell Daisy that  all was fixed , but then secretly hire people when she wasn’t home. Only blokes that Miller had  proven were worth their money, because she knew all th e se daft small town people better than he did.

But, of course,  Alec still never left  any of  them unobserved and he did learn a few things from watching those maintenance people. After a while of  random prodding,  Alec thought to know what the problem was. Appreciatively, he noticed that the woman didn’t try to force small-talk on him, but rather stood by and watched him quietly. She didn’t even comment on his constant grouchy muttering and the few curses that came over his lips.

At one point, Alec had his head under the sink, trying to  unscrew a thread that was stuck. “Come on, come on…” he growled, grinding his teeth from the strain. He could feel it loosen… just a  wee bit more. Suddenly, his hand slipped, the thread was loose and with the pressure in the pipe  abruptly dropping, there was a gush of dirty water that came bursting through the gaps.

“Ah, fuck!” Alec exclaimed and pulled back to stand.

“Oh, no, what went wrong?” the woman asked, stepping closer. “Are you okay?”

Grumbling, Alec looked down on himself. Water dripped from his hands and also his face. His knees and almost  the entire sleeves up until his elbows were drenched. “ Bollocks .” he muttered again under his breath. As a response he could make out faint giggling, but when he fixed the woman with a condemnatory glare she had already composed herself.

“Wait here, I get you a towel to dry off.” she said and went away.

Alec stood alone in the strange, small kitchen and shook out his filthy hands. “I told her I didn’t know what I’m doing.” he grumbled, thinking of Daisy, smug and dry, outside.

The woman returned. “Here, that will do.” she said, holding a bright orange towel out to him.  It had the exact same painful  brightness as Miller’s horrible orange jacket. The woman frowned upon his hesitation. “ That’s the only clean towel I have left. ”

“No, ah, it’s just, ah… thank you.” Alec finished awkwardly, drying his face and hands and then handing it back.

The woman stared at him, eyes still more green than brown, as if she was trying to figure him out. Alec tensed under her gaze, making sure that all his guards were up. He  wouldn’t let anyone see him, so he simply stared back inexpressively.

She wanted to ask something, he could tell, but in that moment  swift steps could be heard from the hallway and just seconds later Nigel Carter stuck his creepy, bald head into the kitchen.

“Hello, did someone call for a plumbing?” he grinned and immediately stepped closer to get his tools ready. “DI Hardy, didn’t know you live here.” he then chatted on as he recognized Alec.

“No, no, I don’t. Just helping out.” Alec said. The woman explained to Nigel once more what went wrong and Alec craned his neck as another set of footsteps came closer. Slower this time, heavier. Mark Latimer came in behind his friend and colleague. There was a timid smile plastered on his face, but he still looked somewhat pale and tired. Not as bad as a few years ago during the investigation of his son’s murder, but Alec knew – from experience actually – that the memories must still haunt him every night.

Mark nodded at him. “Hey.”

“Mark.” Alec nodded back. “Back on your feet?”

“Yah, well… I’m managing. One day after the other, right?” he said. “So, what do we have here?”

Mark focused on his work and started talking to Nigel while Alec turned his head to catch the woman’s gaze again. Only to realize that she was already looking at him. She came closer.

“Right, so… I guess, I’ll be going then.” Alec said to her.

“I walk you out.” she answered and, silently, they made their way back through the narrow hallway and to the front of the house where Daisy was still waiting. There she turned to him with a smile, nervously rubbing her hands on the sides of her jeans. “Well, ah, thank you... for everything. I didn’t even have a chance to say that yet.”

“Didn’t do much.” Alec mumbled.

“Still, thanks for trying.” she said. “And sorry for getting you into this mess. I could have your coat dry-cleaned if you want.” she motioned for the dirty, damp sleeves.

“No, it’s fine. That won’t be necessary.” he said and since she was still smiling, Alec tried for an awkward, curt smile himself. Then he nodded. “Right, goodbye then.”

He turned  away before the woman even had the chance to reply,  all but fleeing from this social situation that he involuntarily found himself in . The strained smile dropped from his lips as he walked over the front yard towards Daisy. She was smiling, too, briefly wav ing at the woman behind him. By the time he reached her, his usual grumpy scowl was back in place.

“What the hell were you thinking, Daise?” he scolded her. “Forcing me into the home of a stranger like that. You know my job, this could really look bad.”

An exasperated teenage huff. “Calm down,  D ad. She didn’t mind, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

_She didn’t mind. Yes, she did say that,_ _didn’t she_ _,_ Alec wondered again.

“So, how did it go?” Daisy asked and then added with a chuckle, “And why are you so filthy?”

“Oh, what do you think?!” Alec snapped back, trusting that his daughter knew his bark was worse than his bite right now. “I was crawling about on a wet, stinking floor, of course I’m filthy.”

“No, I mean the woman.” Daisy clarified. They had resumed walking now. “What do you think of her?”

Alec groaned loudly and rubbed both hands over his face in exasperation. “Sweetheart, would you please stop this already. I don’t want it. You don’t have to look for a match for me.”

“I don’t think I have to look anymore. I found one.”

“Daise—”

“No, really, Dad. I think she’s bold and also really sweet and, most importantly, she’s interested in you.”

At that, Alec whipped his head towards  his daughter, looking at her completely discombobulated. “What? What makes you say that?”

Daisy grinned triumphantly. “She looked after you when you left.”

“Did she?” he mumbled and fought against the nagging urge to look back over his shoulder. This was ludicrous; he wouldn’t fall for his daughter’s tricks. He didn’t need anyone.

“What’s her name?” Daisy asked suddenly and Alec stopped, uttering some blank nonsense. “You didn’t even ask for her name?!”

“Didn’t think of it. Why should I?” Alec spluttered defensively.

Daisy shook her head in disbelief. “ Blimey, Dad. How did you and Mum ever end up together?”

Alec clenched his jaw and decided that for her impertinent tone she didn’t get to know that it was Tess who hinted her interest in the most obvious ways for months and he still didn’t get it.  _She_ _probably_ _suspect_ _s_ _that anyway_ , he thought.

“Can you at least use your police resources to snoop around?” Daisy continued to ask.

“That’s illegal.” Alec grumbled half-heartedly and then, just casually, he did look over his shoulder after all. But they had walked too far already. The edges of the brick wall house were still visible, but the petite, blonde, new-in-town woman was gone.

D aisy noticed his gaze. “Well, I guess then we’ll never know. You  won’t  see her again.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who came back to read more and especially to those who were nice enough to leave kudos or comments! I'm so grateful for your feedback! :)  
> So, in this chapter you'll find out the name of my OC. Check out the note at the end to find out which actress I was picturing for her... ;)

It was one of these days. Those shitty, long days that kept dragging on and on and the more hours passed the worse it got.

It started with Daisy claiming to be sick to get out of PE class, which then turned out to be due to this monthly women thing that left Alec feel queasy because he thought, for sure, his little girl was way too young to have such problems. He actually _wished_ for Tess to be here, despite everything that had happened between them, so he wouldn’t have to deal with these things. 

Thinking about his ex-wife put him in a sour mood by the time he left the house.  Next he got stuck behind a n old lady who crept along in her car almost at walking pace  and a s he entered the police station, aggravated and impatient, two  PC’s clearly made fun of him as he walked by – he was sure they were calling him  s hitface again – and he was just too angry to let that slide.

So, after a good amount of yelling in the morning he  made his way up to the  CID , intending to hide himself away in his office for the  rest of the day,  when  Miller’s wide grin  got in the way.  In contrary to him she seemed to be  particularly chatty and bright today.  A pparently, her  oafish son, Tom, gave her a kiss goodbye before school  this morning,  which M iller saw as a big step towards mending their r ocky r elationship.

Alec, however, didn’t ask to hear this story so Miller shouldn’t be surprised that he merely gave a shrug of his shoulders and a grumbled ‘congratulations’. But, boy, his indifference made her mad and it led to more yelling and name calling.

Miller ended her livid lecture by refusing to do the interview with well-known drunkard Steven, who’s been sobering up in one of their holding cells over night. It was a tedious, demeaning job; when Steven  was drunk he  was  prone to do all kinds of indecent behaviour,  which he then promise d to  never  do again but w hich w ere already forgotten  by  the next time  he was drunk .

_“ _I_ f you insist _ _ on be ing an arsehole today, you can bloody well be an arsehole to him and not to me!”  _ Miller had said and left his office in a mad rush, cursing  him all the way back to her desk.

Y ah. Today was one of these days  that Alec especially hated living in  this  shitty, small  town called  Broadchurch.

Alec massag ed his throbbing skull, growling  in  ang er at himself. I f he  won’t start watching himself a bit more around her,  Miller would end up just as frustrated and grouchy as he was and that wasn’t good for her.  She was a fine policewoman; he needed her to  b e able to see the good in people.  B ecause he couldn’t. They worked well together because of that; they were balancing each other out.

Alec tried to put that stupid interview off as long as he could but eventually protocol dictated that he had to let drunkard Steven go so he might as well get it over with. Realizing, that he didn’t even get his usual strong tea in the morning, he decided to make himself a cuppa before he went to yell at Steven.

He  entered the small kitchen in the station, rummaging around in one of the cupboards only to find that his  usual brand of Earl Grey was empty.

“Of bloody course.” he growled and, fuming, he settled for another box of teabags.

He carried his tea out into the big room, making his way towards the holding cells, when there was an unexpected, swift movement to his right and he felt his elbow bump into the shoulder of another person.

“Argh! _For god’s sake!”_ Alec exclaimed loudly as burning hot tea spilled all over his hand and wrist.

“Sorry, oh, I'm so sorry…” said the other person, a female, but Alec was too furious to let her talk.

“What is _wrong_ with you shitty people! Can’t you watch where you\--” His Scottish roar abruptly died in his throat as he turned towards the person who made his day even worse and he found himself looking into familiar greenish-brown eyes that were widened in shock.

She  was clearly as surprised as he was  about me e t ing each other here . T heir first  encounter had now been at least two weeks ago. “You?” they both  uttered a little flabbergasted, but slowly recovering from the shock. 

It was the quick-witted woman on whose kitchen floor he crawled to try and repair her plumbing. 

“ _You won’t see her again.”_

Alec couldn’t help but immediately hear Daisy’s voice in his head, scold ing him because he missed the chance to get to know this woman that was allegedly interested in him. His burning wrist  completely  forgotten, Alec opened and closed his mouth several times, failing to come up with something, just anything, to say.

Finally, she chuckled. “Of course. Now it makes sense.”

He blinked in utter confusion. “What does?”

“That plumber, the bald one, called you DI… something. You’re with the police.” She made a motion with her hand to indicate her surroundings and then shook her head in disbelief and slight amusement. “Of course, I could have figured that out.”

“Ah… well, yes… I suppose…” Alec stuttered. “Stands for Detective Inspector.” he then said unnecessarily. The woman nodded, smiling and crossing her arms over her chest. It seemed as if she was waiting for him to say or ask something specific, but getting awkward and flustered as usual when thrown into social situations, Alec couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was. 

“Well, Detective Inspector,” the woman eventually said, saving him from having to come up with a certainly stupid stuttering answer. “Sorry for the tea; I’m so clumsy.”

“Oh, it’s fine. No harm done.” _Oh, really?_ Alec briefly eyed his slightly reddened wrist and wondered why he let her off the hook so easily. Would she have been a colleague, he would’ve yelled so much, he might actually could’ve caused tears. Especially on a bad day like this. But she was still looking at him with a friendly smile on her face, which made him nervous. “So… what are you doing here?” he finally uttered. “Didn’t Mark do a good job?”

A t that her demeanour changed all of a sudden. Her face darkened angrily and she clenched her fists at her sides. “No, plumbing is fine. Now it’s a lovely new graffiti that has been sprayed on  my fence.” she spat sarcastically. “And it’s the second time. I already talked to a  constable on the phone and he said he would deal with it, but just the night after I repainted, they came back!” she growled in the back of her throat. “God, I fucking hate this town already!”

A lec  chuckled . 

_Yes_ , he did.  Unintentionally _,_ of course _._ He actually had to restrain himself so he wouldn’t laugh out loud.

The woman slowly lifted a blonde eyebrow, obviously ready to put him in his place and Alec had a feeling that she wouldn’t care in the least that all his subordinates were watching. “Sorry, it’s just…” The corners of his mouth were twitching again. “Just that I hate it, too. But it somehow traps you in it. Stupid small town people with their stupid small town problems.”

“Oh, I’m glad I could amuse you.” The woman said, crossing her arms again, glaring at him.

“Sorry.” Alec mumbled. “Tell me, what exactly did those vandals sprayed on your fence?”

“The usual, I guess.” she shrugged. “Obscenities and they also painted a wonky, sad smiley-face.”

Alec nodded in affirmation. “That’s a measly, little gang of teenagers. We know them, they painted half the town. It’s not just you.”

“Oh, yay.” the woman fake-cheered. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself, suddenly looking a lot more vulnerable and small than just a few moments ago. Her eyes were avoiding him now, as if she was deep in thoughts.

She was new and seemingly alone in a town that didn’t exactly make her feel welcome. Alec could  strongly  relate to that. And since she obviously hated it so much she must have had a good reason to come here anyway. No one just move d to Broadchurch voluntarily. “Hey.” he said carefully and took  a small step closer. “Hey,” he repeated, tilting his head down to catch her eyes. “ I will personally make sure that those good-for-nothing deadbeats won’t bother you ever again. You have my word.” he said  firmly.

Slowly, she looked up, standing straighter. “Okay… thank you.” she said quietly and then sighed in relief. It seemed as if she had at least one problem less to worry about and Alec wondered what else was troubling her mind. “You know, I think you’re the first nice person I’ve met in this town.” she said then.

Alec had to chuckle again.  _Christ, where_ _is_ _this com_ _ing_ _from?_ “Ha, that  can’t be right . Ask anyone,  they’ll gladly tell you how much they despise me .”

The smile was back on her face. “ I can’t imagine.” she said softly. “Maybe they didn’t take the time to really get to know you.”

Alec was stumped once more, staring at her blankly. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t deal with people being nice to him. Insults, he could manage. Breaking down confessions or handling angry troublemakers, no problem at all. But not this… this seemingly pure, honest – weird? – niceness. “Ah… well, I... ah…” he struggled, rubbing his neck.

_Miller would be_ _so much_ _better at this_ , he thought and  automatically glanced over to her desk, realiz ing that she was staring at him.  A gain, with that ridiculously wide, toothy grin. And not just her.  S everal officers had stopped, only paying half attention to what they were doing and instead shamelessly  listening in to his conversation . Alec clenched his jaw and grumbled  crossly, which made most of them quickly look away. But not Ellie Miller.

“Annoying colleague?” the woman asked, following his gaze with a smirk.

“Yah. Most annoying of them all.” Alec muttered. “I should get back to her now… but don’t worry about those teenagers. I’ll deal with them.” he promised again. “They won’t bother you anymore.”

“You seem very confident.”

“Oh, I will give them a piece of my mind.” growled Alec. “I could also come by your house again... ah, you know t-to…” his confidence crumbled quickly as he realized what he had said in his haste. “To, ah, make sure they won’t come back… at some point, you know… I mean… I-I know where you live.”

T h is time th e woman let him scramble until the very embarrassing end, a cheeky little grin on her face. “Yes. You do.”

“Right.” he said, gripping his forgotten tea cup like a lifeline.

“Well, thank you. Again.” she smiled. “And I’m sorry,” she motioned for the cup that he now uncomfortably shifted from one hand to the other. “Seems that every time we meet you get covered in some kind of liquid because of me.”

She grinned.  H e waved her off. “Oh, it’s fine, really. Fine.”

She nodded. “Alright then. I let you get back to work.” The woman turned her back and started to walk away.

“ _You didn’t even ask for her name!?”_

Daisy scolded him again in his mind and,  all of a sudden, it became clear to him that this  must have been what the woman was waiting for  earlier .

“Wait! Ah… I…” Alec stuttered when she turned around once more and he took a few bumbling steps to catch up with her. “I-I seem to have failed… twice now… to ask for your name.”

Her smile brightened. So much so that it was infectious, even to Alec. “My name is Jenna.” she said. “Jenna Davison.”

“Jenna.” he repeated deliberately, listening to how her name sounded from his lips. Then he nodded his head in approval, which made her chuckle. He smiled back, so genuinely, like only Daisy knew he could, and before he had time to overthink it, he stretched out his hand. “I’m Alec.” he said. “Alec Hardy.”

Jenna gleefully shook his hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Alec.”

* * *

Unfathomably, the smile was still on his face  when Alec  eventually turned away from the woman. He didn’t even notice it until Miller stood in the way again and mirrored his smile. Shocked about his slip-up Alec quickly put the scowl back in place. “ Don’t start--”

“Who’s your friend?” Miller asked just at the same time.

“She’s not my friend.” Alec muttered, skilfully sidestepping Miller and continuing his determined walk towards the holding cells.

Miller hurried to catch up with his larger strides. “Sorry, girlfriend then.”

Alec was so startled by this word that it _did_ make him stop and fiercely glare at his colleague. “She’s _not_ my girlfriend! Bloody hell, just leave me alone, Miller!” 

She was not impressed. “Are you sure about that? Because you were all smiley and well-behaved when you talked to her.”

Alec resumed  wal king , trying to ignore her. “You have seen me smile before.” he stated stubbornly.

“No, sir, I don’t think I have.” Miller said. “Not like that at least and definitely not at work. Katie actually spilled her coffee when she saw you and Lewis tripped over his own feet, walking by. It was quite hilarious.”

Alec didn’t reply. Grinding his teeth so hard that it hurt, he was now actually looking forward to the interview with Steven so he could avoid his nosy colleague.

“You like her, don’t you?”

He abruptly whirled around, noticing with smug satisfaction that his swift movement had startled Miller. “She was here because of the teenage vandals that messed up her fence. I told her I would take care of them and that was it. Stop construing things that aren’t there! For god’s sake, Miller, you’re even worse than Daisy!”

Alec realized his mistake immediately after he finished talking. He clenched his jaw, determined to give nothing away, and reached for the door to the interview room. Miller reached it first.

“Why, what does Daisy know about her?” Her eyes were glinting mischievously.

“Nothing.”

“Did she already meet her? Was she at your home?” Miller breathed in. “Bloody hell, she is your girlfriend, isn’t she?”

Alec exhaled through his nose, calming himself so he wouldn’t yell. “Miller, step away from the door now or I swear I will push you through it and lock you up with our friend Steven for the rest of the day.” He  stared her down relentlessly, knowing that  Miller knew his grouchy moods like the back of her own hand; it was when he was calm that she couldn’t read him as well.

Miller scowled stubbornly for a few seconds, but then she gave up, stepping aside. “You know that I  can ask Daisy  about this the next time I see her,  right?”

“Do what you want.” muttered Alec indifferently and entered the interview room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Jenna Davison is... Georgia Tennant! :)  
> The first name is a variation of the name of a character she once played in Doctor Who (because I couldn't picture Alec with a 'Jenny', haha) and the last name is her father's last name (also an actor, haha)... creative, right? ;)  
> Georgia once said in an interview that she and her husband tried to work together more but some producer said that apparently she wasn't a believable mate for him, haha. That's why I decided to team her up with him in my story at least. :)  
> I hope I created a convincing character for her so you can picture her as well as I can in this.


End file.
